Tied Together With A Smile
by a mountain of gideon's scones
Summary: Because hatred can turn to love in the strangest of ways. RoseScorpius.


_For trying to forget r e a l i t y – autocorrect on Microsoft Word wanted to make the 'I' in your penname a capital…_

_And also my friends on RoseScorpius Fans_

_This one is just something to get me back into HP – you'll get a better RoseScorp fic in the future, I swear!_

_I don't own anything _

* * *

_~x~_

"Malfoy, get out of my way," Rose orders as she walks further into the office they (unfortunately) have to share as the 'newbies' in the department. Three years training after Hogwarts and yet she's still a newbie…

…and she still hates him as much as she did the first time she met him.

That day is probably the most prominent memory she _has_ of the pair of them from their Hogwarts time – that or the time when he almost pushed her off a broom mid-flight because she disagreed with his keeping skills (which _sucked_) – of the two of them, it's probably one of the better memories.

_~x~_

They start Hogwarts as fresh, eager first years, with no prejudices against one another (amazing, she knows). After all, their parents' problems were the problems of their parents – they have no need to get drawn into it. And anyway, James is friendly _enough_ with some of the Slytherins in his year and, anyway, _Dominique_ was a Slytherin, so why would the new kids have anything against Slytherins of the past?

The train picks up speed as they head away from their parents for the first time, off to the most _magical_ boarding school there is in the entire world. Victoire almost went to Beauxbatons because her Mum wanted her to, but at the last minute stayed – and _everyone_ thinks it's because of Teddy.

As they leave their parents behind, Rose and Albus begin to make their way through the train for the cabin Rose reserved at nearly ten am – she _insisted_ on knowing where she was sitting, that they would have their space without having to stress…but now she's forgotten where it was.

"I _think_ that it was down there," Rose points down into the third carriage they've tried, hoisting her little bag higher onto her shoulder as they pass some rather large sixth years.

"You said that about this carriage…_and_ the one before," Albus reminds her, getting a little more stressed about this traipsing around the Hogwarts Express because he's carrying _everything_ he's taking to Hogwarts with him! "Can we please get there sooner rather than later because this is _really_ heavy," he moans, just as the boy they saw on the platform emerges in front of them.

It's the one Ron told them not to be friends with, the son of the man with the pointy face – the one with the same platinum blonde hair as the boy here, and similar eyes as well.

"You looking for this?" he steps out of the way of the compartment door to reveal Rose's neatly stacked trunk and owl cage – she _knew_ it's around here!

"Yeah, this is _our_ compartment," her eyes narrow as he stands before them, proud and obnoxious. He's already getting on her nerves and they've compared about ten words – he's so _full of himself_; she doesn't know how she can tell this, but she knows it's the truth!

"Tough; you can't save compartments and not stay in them – it's in the rules," he narrows his eyes as he squares up to his female counterpart, about as stubborn as he is. "_But_, I guess that you can come and sit in here, if you want," he continues, words which have Albus sighing in relief.

"That's great, thanks…Scorpius, right?" he says as he walks past the blonde into the compartment without a second's contemplation. After all, it's a compartment to get to Hogwarts – it's not like Scorpius is going to make _that_ much of a difference, is it?

"Yeah, that's it," Scorpius smiles slightly at the other boy before turning back to the girl, obnoxiously waiting for her to enter the compartment before him.

However, Rose continues to stand out in the corridor, swaying as the train picks up momentum and goes around a corner. She's fuming on the inside, unable to accept how this, this _Scorpius_ has just stolen their compartment and how he is now trying to say he's 'allowing' them in their compartment!

"You coming in?" Scorpius turns towards the door slightly, the most self assured eleven year old Rose has ever seen in her life. And that includes both Victoire and James, the latter of which has even been beaten by this brat of a child – for the first time; she's beginning to see what made her Dad hate the Malfoys so much.

"Suppose so," she sighs, stepping through the door with a contemptuous glance at him before sitting down right next to Albus. "So, Al, did Uncle Harry say whether or not he was going to be coming down in October or not?" she deliberately turns to Al to engage him in a conversation that doesn't include Scorpius.

Or so she thinks – of course, Scorpius manages to get himself into the conversation. "Yeah, I heard through my Dad that Harry Potter was going to come back in mid-October and do the Auror talk again," he shrugs as if it's no big deal that he knows this classified information.

Rose narrows her eyes at him again, scowling in a way that always has her mother moaning about how unladylike she appears when she does it. "I wasn't asking _you_, I was asking my _friend_," she specifically emphasises words to prove her point, something which is successful.

"Yeah, you're right, Scorpius; it's about the 14th, I think," Albus crinkles his forehead as he tries to remember the exact details, entirely oblivious to the growing tensions in the compartment between the other two.

"You know, I think it's _really_ bad when people leak information from the Ministry, even to their own children," Rose shoots back at Scorpius, angry that she didn't know something he did. "After all, what if that had been really classified and you've just told us the answer?"

"Then Albus would be in trouble as well," Scorpius shoots back calmly, folding his arms.

At the same time, Rose does the same and turns her head away childishly, already wishing for the journey to Hogwarts to be over. The thing she was looking so forward to has been ruined by this _buffoon_!

Needless to say, the rest of the journey is in near silence.

_~x~_

"Watch out the way yourself, Weasley, can't you see all this?" he snaps back, indicating piles of parchment neatly stacked- or it _is_, until she walks into it and sends everything to the floor. "Oh, look what you've done _now_," he exaggerates his sigh, throwing his hands up in the air as she sets her box down on her immaculate desk.

"Incase you forgot, we agreed that the incoming paperwork would be set over _there_," she indicates towards the back corner, her tone crabbit. With a wave of her wand, she sends every single roll of parchment to where it's supposed to be in their average sized office, a vindictive smile settling on her lips as her hands are placed on her hips. "Oh look at how easy that was. I mean, wait… you _did_ use magic to stack them up before, right?" a thought hits her as she voluntarily looks at him, just to watch as his gaze drop instantly to the floor.

"Of course," he mutters, but he doesn't sound entirely confident and she spots the colouring of his cheeks.

"I wouldn't expect anything _but_ that from the great Scorpius Malfoy," she continues, her tone more than slightly sarcastic. "Anyway, I can't stand around all day like you – I actually have to _work_ rather than just sit here and look pretty," she manages to insult him as she goes to sit at her desk, turning away from him.

Naturally, he manages to pick up on 'look pretty' and turns his head towards her, an amused smirk replacing the embarrassment.

"You think I'm handsome, Weasley?" he asks her, arrogance flooding his tone, as it always does when he discusses his looks.

"I'd compare you to a skunk, so if you think a skunk is handsome, then yeah, go for it," she replies, her tone distracted as she tries to focus on some work. "Now, if you're done with standing there and trying to pose like a model, can you get back to work so we _both_ don't get fired?" she continues, scribbling away on a piece of paper about some worldwide wizarding event or another.

His grin as he sits back down makes him wonder what he'd do if he didn't have this banter to get him through the day.

_~x~_

"So," Lindsay Turner, her best friend and dating her _other_ best friend, Al Potter (who also just happens to be Scorpius' best friend but that's another story) begins, her tone full of expectation. "What's going on with you and Scorpius?" the question is muttered as they begin to walk away down the Ministry's long corridor on their lunch break, Rose not even speaking to her colleague as she walked out the room.

"He called me a ginger idiot earlier – _after_ he spilt coffee all over the biggest document we have so I had to copy it out again as 'his hand hurt'," she moans, gritting her teeth as the memory of Scorpius' stupidity comes back to the forefront of her mind.

Meanwhile, her friend has a look on her face that Rose doesn't really want to decipher. It'd take too much effort and time – two things she's definitely lacking in at the minute. "Well, I'd say that he's a git for that, but I'd also give him some of my work to do, if it were me," Lindsay says thoughtfully, not entirely sure how to make the conversation return to where she wants it to be rather than focusing on the one question she's _really_ regretting she didn't ask.

"I mean, he's so _full_ of himself," Rose continues, venting since she doesn't normally – normally being more than three times a week. "He's just like 'oh yeah, well, I'm above this crap so you can do it and I'll just sit here' which _really_ pisses me off," she continues, her voice getting steadily higher and higher with anger.

This continues down the three corridors they walk, as well as the lift down to the canteen, Lindsay getting visibly more bored by the second, until she finally just blurts out her news, "Al and I are getting married."

Rose stops midstep down the corridor, turning to face her friend as her mouth remains tightly shut. For a full ten seconds – the longest length of time in their entire conversation Rose has been silent – she stares agape at her best friend, words refusing to form in her ready mouth.

"OHMIGODTHISISFANTASTIC!" she squeals at the top of her voice in one breath, the words mashing together so that they're indistinguishable from one another. "Can I see it?" she clamours, her eyes moving down from her friend's face to her left hand, waiting to see the ring clad on Lindsay's finger.

"Sure," Lindsay laughs and lifts her hand for Rose to see the absolutely _huge_ diamond on the front of the gold ring. "I can't believe it," she gets into the mood again with Rose, both of them doing a little happy dance that they really regret when…

"Dear me, not only are you clogging up the corridors but you're doing it in a way that makes the rest of us wonder if you're trying to get yourself admitted to St Mungos, Weasley," Scorpius, the one and only person Rose would rather drop dead than let him see her dance like that, drawls from behind them, an amused tone to his voice.

The excitement gone, Rose drops Lindsay's hand and turns to scowl at the blonde standing behind her. "Good luck with that, Malfoy, since Lindsay would make sure that I'm not going to go to hospital," she shoots back, referencing the fact that Lindsay is the head Healer for the mentally disorientated ward.

"And I can't have my maid of honour in the hospital," Lindsay butts in, keen to diffuse the tension by drawing Rose's attention to more positive things.

"OHMIGOD, THIS IS GOING TO BE EPIC!" she squeals again, her words able to be understood this time, even at the extremely high volume.

"Again, please note this as an example of your needing to be sectioned," Scorpius rolls his eyes and waits for the inevitable gloating.

"Haha, look at that, _I'm_ the maid of honour at the wedding – _not_ you," Rose gloats, not pausing to think through the fact that Scorpius wouldn't probably be the maid of honour anyway, but letting that small detail pass by.

"Firstly, I wouldn't want to be the maid of honour and secondly, Albus told me earlier about the wedding and I'm the best man, so I don't _really_ think second hand information is going to make me jealous," he replies, an edge to his tone that has Rose wanting to punch his pretty face (as she has to admit, he _is_ handsome…in a prick sort of way) until it bleeds: he _knew before her_!

She turns back to Lindsay, her expression outraged as the bride to be simply looks sheepish. "I wanted to see you in person to tell you and this was the only time that I could get to be able to do so," she lifts her hands in surrender as Rose takes a step towards her. "But, there's one more thing that I may as well tell you – you're both, together, in charge of the speeches and other things that Al and I need to agree on," she informs them in as short a time as possible, trying to confuse them so that they won't react. "Right, well, I have to go back so bye!" she waves over her shoulder and runs away as the pair work through what she said.

"WHAT?" Rose gets there first, as expected, and begins to advance down after Lindsay. "You want… are you _serious_?" she yells, stopping suddenly as Scorpius reaches out and grabs her arm.

"Running after her will only make her more likely to make us work together more – it's her wedding, remember?" he speaks words of sense – an achievement in itself, coming from Scorpius Malfoy – but she can only focus on the idea that she has to work with Scorpius _in_ work _and_ in her recreational time.

"She's trying to ruin my life," Rose groans, ripping her arm out of Scorpius' grasp and stalking off back to the office, Scorpius following after her. "Right, well, I suppose that's my life out of the window then, if I'm going to have to cope with you pretty much twenty four seven," she continues in the same manner as she slides into her seat at her desk. Her hands cover her head as she groans audibly, Scorpius lingering in front of his desk as usual.

"Look at it this way – I'm letting you spend more time with me and I'm not charging you for the experience," he tries to joke but it fails miserably when Rose simply looks up and gives him the dirtiest look imaginable. "Look, Weasley, I don't know what's made me say this, but you're not as bad as you were in school. I'll get by if you do, but only if you let me make my jokes," he says, looking directly into her eyes to try and brainwash her (she thinks) into agreeing with him.

It's the strangest feeling; she goes from hating his guts to simply being mesmerised by the paleness of his eyes, the way that the light reflects off the grey colour of his irises and glints in ways she's never noticed before…and never going to notice now she's already looking away.

"Fine, I'll agree with you on that," she nods slowly, digging out a sheaf of paper from the growing pile on her desk and throwing it across to him. "This is the work that's yours and you've tried to slip into my pile to get me to do. Do it yourself."

He grins slightly, abashed, but nods, looking up again to peer into Rose's face. "So, we're civil now?" he confirms the unspoken words passed between them through the fact they've had an entire conversation without a bitter word.

"Civil," she agrees, a smile spreading slightly onto her face. "Now, onto work, Malfoy, or I'll tell Wood that you're not working," she continues, tapping her desk with the end of her quill pointedly.

And then the ink goes everywhere.

"Shit."

_~x~_

Their dear friends getting married, Albus and Lindsay, call them to come over that night, to officially request for them "to write their speeches, order the bridesmaids and page boy outfits and any other jobs they may have for them" – basically telling them that they're going to be skivvies for the next three months (hasty wedding) but repaid by being given the most sought after role of a guest in the wedding.

"I don't think I'm actually going to sleep for the next twelve weeks," Rose groans as she walks with Scorpius down the stairs from the flat of their best friends.

"I don't think I'm going to go on a, ahem, _date_ for the next twelve weeks," Scorpius words his sentence carefully, remembering Rose's contempt for his mentioning of his sexual escapades when she really doesn't want to know.

"That's not really applicable in the same way," she rolls her eyes but refrains from saying anything else.

"And look at that, Rose Weasley is managing to hold her tongue – there _is_ a God somewhere!" of course, Scorpius has to ruin the amicable mood between the two of them.

"You're such a git, you know that?" she sighs at him, yet doesn't add the usual biting edge to her tone. "We were actually getting on for a minute and you have to go spoil it!"

He rolls his eyes this time, a deliberate movement to match what she did earlier to show he isn't going to respond. As he does this, they reach the bottom of the stairs and head out into the fresh night – they can't Apparate because the entire area has been made Anti-Apparating due to some event or another (that's for Local Magical Enforcement to sort out) so they're walking.

She shivers involuntarily, regretting wearing such a thin dress, even though it's the middle of summer – they live in _England_; it's not exactly the best place to be living to dress in such a manner.

"Come here," Scorpius hands her his jacket without a word after a good five minutes – the chattering of her teeth was driving him crazy.

"Nu-uh," she declines it, "I'm not one of 'your girls' – I'm not gonna wear your jacket for you to boast!"

"Rose, you're freezing to death – it's not like I'm offering to say I want to go out with you, or that I even like you as a _friend_; I'm simply offering you something so you don't freeze to death," for a change, he's the voice of reason in the conversation, continuing to hand out the jacket to her.

After a long pause of simply looking at the jacket in his hands, Rose takes it gratefully and slips it over her shoulders, already feeling warmer. And, as they continue to walk towards the edge of the Anti-Apparation zone, she realises something.

It's the first time he's called her Rose.

_~x~_

Their civility lasts through periods of extreme stress, lasting when even their friendships with their closest friends get called under scrutiny – one thing you _don't_ want to do, they've learnt, is tell the bride that her ideas absolutely suck.

"So, I'm thinking that next time we _won't_ tell her that purple isn't the perfect combination with pink?" Rose laughs as she flops back on her sofa, turning to see Scorpius standing awkwardly. Their usual planning spot – his office in Kensington (who needs an _office_?) is under renovation, so she offered to let them continue writing their near nonexistent speeches at her house, just so they have a chance of getting them done for three weeks time.

"I'm thinking that may be as good an idea as you _not_ reminding her that making a spot disappear will only make it come back three weeks later and ten times worse," Scorpius continues, taking the seat opposite Rose and looking as if he's lived here all his life, rather than simply visiting for a few hours.

"Urgh, let me tell you that I shall _never_ tell anyone that again, let alone Lindsay," she groans, pulling a cushion over her face to hide it from the world. "I suppose we'd better get on with the speeches," she decides after a few seconds of silent hiding behind the cushion – it's not the best thing to be doing in the world, if she's honest.

"Oh yeah, before we got chased out, Al said for me to remind you that you need to sort your date out for the wedding soon," Scorpius remembers something that makes Rose _want_ to return to her hiding place, yet manages to refrain herself in present company.

"Ok, thanks," she manages, feeling slightly awkward about discussing her love life with Scorpius, for the strangest of reasons. They've gotten on a _lot_ better in recent weeks, almost at the stage where she'll accept him as a new friend rather than merely a civil acquaintance. _Almost,_ that is; whenever she's about to make that step, he makes a joke that just ruins everything…but that doesn't account for why she doesn't want to discuss her love life with her previous worst enemy – and not for the reason for not liking him.

But he's not going to let it go that easily.

"Rose, who you taking to the wedding?" he grins, swinging his legs over the chair even though he knows it irritates her, thinking all he wants to do is irritate her tonight, to see how far he can push her.

The limit seems to have stretched three hundred times further than it was when she first found out they would be working together (things were thrown out of windows three stories high and some offices were _allegedly_ set on fire) as she simply grits her teeth and answers the question.

"I'm not – I haven't decided yet and everyone seems to have RSPV'd, so there's nobody left," she sighs in a way that shows she's not really bothered about this – because she isn't. She'd rather go alone if there's nobody to go with rather than take someone she doesn't like… "What about you; which of your girlfriends are you taking to this?" she returns the question, pulling her pad over to her and poising her quill over the page to resume writing her speech for the millionth time.

"I'm not as well – everything blew up with Ana, as she found out about Georgina, who _also_ decided to have nothing to do with me after that. Leanne told me she's pregnant with someone else's baby, so she's out of the equation and I'm just bored of Paula, so I'm going solo," he shrugs it off, appearing almost comfortable with this situation.

Her quill drops onto the table as she hears this, her mouth hanging open. "Wait…_Scorpius Malfoy_ is going to a social function _alone_?" she confirms, perhaps more shocked than before when he confirms this by nodding his head. "Well that makes it easier for the tables then as I already factored in no extra guests for us," she mutters, not knowing why she phrased it like this because she knows what he's going to think.

"You mean you _assumed_ I wouldn't be going with anybody?" he picks up on it and laughs, beginning to analyse his own speech. "Jeez, Rose, anyone would think you liked me or something," his carefully nonchalant tone gets her thinking about something but it doesn't quite come to the surface because she's a little busy choking at what he thinks.

"_Like _you?" she repeats incredulously as soon as she can speak again. "Scorpius, I barely can spend this time with you without sometimes wanting to punch you – I hardly think that that makes me a prime date for you," she scoffs, picking her speech back up and lifting it right to her face to hide her flaming cheeks.

The silence that ensues is awkward, one that is punctured by Scorpius swinging his legs back around. "Well, now that that's sorted out, I best be off – I don't need you to hold my hand as I write a speech," he says, adding the last bit on as she opens her mouth to protest.

"I want it as _soon_ as you're finished with it so I can check whether it's appropriate or not – remember, there are going to be kids present," she warns him for the fifteenth time this week alone, since she had to veto his previous speech that would have had Teddy and Victoire's kids screaming for the rest of their childhoods.

"Yes, ma'am," he says sarcastically, saluting her in a mock general style that would have her retaliating with some comment that was derogatory to his hair in the past, but now she simply smiles and ignores it.

"See ya, Malfoy," she calls as he leaves the flat, slamming the door behind him. "Bloody hell, a bit harder and he'd have had the door off," she mutters to herself, tapping her quill on the table as she wonders what to write.

However, the only thing her mind can go back to is the fact that Scorpius isn't taking a date to the wedding…it's strange, but she can't help but think if there's an ulterior motive to this, whether he has plans to be unveiled at the wedding that can't involve a date.

All she knows is that she'll be finding out on the night.

_~x~_

She doesn't know what's happening to her – only twelve weeks ago, she absolutely hated the guts of Scorpius Malfoy and now, the day of the wedding, she's realising she may actually _miss_ spending every day with him. He's been such a big part of her life for the past few months that to imagine going back to only seeing him for nine hours a day, five days a week, will be like they've split up.

She tells herself not to be silly, that they're not going out so they can't exactly split up, yet she knows that she _will_ miss him when he's not there everyday to argue with in a way that's productive towards the wedding. The removal of something so stress invoking will be like her going on holiday…but it's not that she wants to, she wants to continue doing what she's been doing – and doing it with Scorpius.

It's confusing her as she dresses for the big day in the silvery dress she chose for herself, confusing her as she curls her hair because the hairdresser is taking forever on Lindsay's locks. She doesn't know what's going on with her and her brain, doesn't know whether or not she's imaging what she thinks is going on or not. He's a womaniser – maybe it's just his charms _finally_ working on her now that she's accepted him as a friend.

"Quit debating about your love for Scorpius and either confess it to the world or help me with my dress," Lindsay startles Rose, her tone light and joking but the words – she said _what_ about Rose and Scorpius?

"W-what did you say?" she chokes through, setting the lipgloss aside to hear what Lindsay said.

"I take it you remember _nothing_ of the hen night then," the bride says cheerfully, twisting as Rose tightens the straps so that it fits just perfectly. "We all told you that you were perfect for each other, that we'd all seen it every day since before we left Hogwarts, and then you admitted you liked him more than a friend, then I can't remember anything after that."

Rose groans, wondering what on earth possessed her to say such _lies_ when…but if the thoughts she's having now are true, it wasn't a lie that she told every single person at the hen party. She _does_ have feelings for him – whether it's love or not is debatable, yet she knows that there must be something there, something that's probably been hidden by the smokescreen of hatred that probably was never hatred at all.

"I can't accept this today – it's _your_ day, so let's just get on with that, kay?" Rose says to Lindsay, pushing every thought of Scorpius out of her mind even though she's going to be walking down the aisle with him in merely thirty five minutes. After all, it's not her day, but Lindsay's…she can't exactly monopolise the attention, can she?

"Ok," Lindsay agrees, her eyes shining as the realisation that she's getting _married_ today hits her. "Oh my god, I'm getting married," she squeals, Rose joining in with the jumping up and down…but her heart…her heart is elsewhere.

It's wherever Scorpius is.

_~x~_

She's hanging around outside the church, waiting for Scorpius to bloody well turn up so they can enter the church – Lindsay can't go in till the maid of honour and best man are in there. She strains her neck to try and see if Scorpius is coming _yet_ – but he's not.

"He's going to ruin the wedding," she mutters, for the first time in months feeling a stab of hatred towards the man who she apparently hated for the past ten years or so. "Bloody hell, I'm going to have to find him."

Conjuring an umbrella to protect her hair from the drips of rain falling from the trees around the church, she begins on her trek to find Scorpius before the car with Lindsay arrives. She's got about five or six minutes according to the tight schedule set up by herself to ensure everything runs to plan, but it's not exactly helping at the minute because _Scorpius is missing!_

She searches around the right hand side of the church and reception hall, directly behind the back and begins to make her way round via the left, when she hears noises she _really_ doesn't want to hear.

Her eyes involuntarily flicker over to the people getting it on in the _graveyard_ (possibly the least appropriate place besides the actual inside church) and the umbrella in her hand falls to the ground with a clatter, a gasp escaping her throat before she can censor it.

It's Scorpius and Ana, the girl who she's been friends with since she moved to Hogwarts in her fourth year. It's _Scorpius_ and _Ana_, Scorpius the one who she thought she may like and _Ana_, her _friend_. What the _hell_ is going on – why are they…why are they doing this? Her brain can't function through the shock, being unable to accept the situation, yet her feet almost figure out what she wants: she wants to run as far away from the pair of them as possible…

They break apart as they see her, Ana's dress and hair dishevelled whilst Scorpius looks just handsomely ruffled. "Rose," is all he can say, his eyes watching her as he breathes extremely heavily.

"You need to be over here," she informs him through unmoving lips, her feet beginning to cooperate and run over the gravelled path back towards the front of the church. She wants to just go in without Scorpius but she needs him to walk down with, otherwise she'll ruin Lindsay and Al's wedding. So, as she reaches the front of the church, she focuses on hiding the pain threatening to overcome her at the sight of her friend and the person she really thinks she likes…_liked_, since how can she continue to like him when he's done this? However, she wipes her eyes and uses her wand to remove any signs of her searching, checking her wristwatch to see they have three minutes to get well into the church…that's probably not that likely.

She hears the crunching of gravel behind her to signify that Scorpius is coming up behind her, out of breath due to the laboured breathing she can hear. "Rose-" he begins but she cuts him off, not wanting to hear it.

"I don't care – come on otherwise Lindsay will kill us," she says coldly, déjà vu as to her hatred for Scorpius hitting her suddenly.

They approach the church doors just as they hear the car approaching, ready for Lindsay to get out and get married. Just before they go in, Rose takes the deepest breath of her life and gingerly reaches out to take Scorpius' arm as per to the arrangement.

"Rose, you have to listen to me," he whispers urgently as they begin to walk down, knowing he can talk because she can't either run away from him or tell him to shut up in the middle of a wedding ceremony. "You have no right to act like you're hurt or whatever the last few minutes have been about because _you hate me_," he continues, presuming Rose's feelings (although correctly), which makes her anger increase even more.

"Shut up, Scorpius, and don't try and assume my feelings," she whispers waspishly, tensing her arm to remove it the second she's out of the obligation. It's amazing how much a few minutes, one experience, can change your feelings; she's gone from debating about asking him to clarify things between them to returning to almost hating his guts.

"But…" he trails off as they reach the end, Rose moving to one side and Scorpius the other as the music changes and Lindsay begins to walk down the aisle with her father.

.

Rose's eyes begin to fill with tears as she watches her life long friends get married, watch them join together in holy matrimony, because she has the feeling she's never going to get this. The one person she began to consider this with – an absolutely amazing thing, since she absolutely despised him for so many years – has betrayed her without even knowing it, evidently having put down the friendlier feelings to friendship rather than the possibility of something more…either that, or he demoted her to being one of his usual one night stands – just without that one night.

They all begin to file out of the church and she realises she, as maid of honour, is expected to walk out with the best man – something she _really_ doesn't want to have to do. She also remembers that she's going to have to sit next to him for the entire meal; perhaps she can cast a silencing charm on him just to make sure he can't try and assume her feelings again…and that'd make for an interesting speech from him.

"Rose," he tries again, his voice softer than she perhaps has ever heard it, yet she ignores this, simply focusing on the couple walking out ahead of them. "You're going to have to talk to me _sometime_ tonight, Rose. Just let me _explain_!"

She scowls at him and shakes her head, not moving her lips to say the words she doesn't need to say: she doesn't care. Somewhere deep inside, she knows this is a lie, but the anger is the only thing she can think of right now – it's the only thing that she can consider.

As they reach the outside of the church, she steps onto the other side of the steps from him, staying as far away from possible as she hides the bitterness of her feelings to make the wedding photos as perfect as possible. For the next fifteen minutes, she completes the perfect pictures, standing between Lindsay and Aunt Ginny as the wedding photos will capture this day forever – the day Lindsay Turner became Lindsay Potter, her cousin in law.

_~x~_

Within the next five minutes, everyone is either Apparating or driving over to the reception building on the other side of the grounds – or, rather, the entrance is. It's one of the less pleasing aspects of the planning, yet Rose ends up smiling as she pops from the steps of the church into the reception hall with about fifteen other important guests heading to the 'head table' where they've been allocated seats.

She sits down in the seat two along from the bride and breathes heavily, placing her head in her hands. She still can't accept what she saw, can't accept that she isn't going to be discussing _anything _with Scorpius other than whether or not he has to complete the report for next week or not. It's not the beginning to the day she wanted, not the thing that she wants to taint the memory of the wedding of her best friends – but she'll get over it.

_He_ appears beside her suddenly, sitting down in the chair next to her and turning towards her so his entire torso is facing hers. "I'm not going to leave until you talk to me, Rose, and since I'm sitting here, I would quite happily sit here all night," he informs her, confusing her further – why does he even _care_?

"Piss off," she mutters between her fingers before moving her hand to find the wand in her clutch. She waves it to create a wall between them, resulting in his mouth moving but she can't hear a single word – thank _God_!

Finally, the happy couple arrives and everyone applauds, Lindsay turning to discuss things with Rose. They begin to speak in their secret code so that Al and Scorpius won't have a clue what they're discussing.

"You know the insect in your room?" Lindsay begins thoughtfully, referring to Scorpius and Rose. "Did you ever manage to sort out the situation when it kept hiding and coming back or not?" aka, did you have a chat with him about where you stand.

"Um…I found that insect and another near one another in the corner so I killed them both," Rose responds flatly, continuing to blankly ignore Scorpius sitting to her left. "Now, I still can't accept that you're _married_!" she states, her voice rising with hysteria, something that Al manages to pick up on.

Lindsay smiles and takes Al's hand, looking happier than Rose has ever seen it. "Well you better accept it, hon, as it's what's happened," she grins, leaning in to kiss her husband…at the same time as Scorpius turns to look at Rose.

_~x~_

Within a few hours, it's time for the speeches, both Rose and Scorpius well on their way to getting (individually) hammered. The barrier continues to be up between them, every conversation starter by Scorpius being ignored by Rose, who talks to anyone _but_ Scorpius – if only for the simple reason she can't hear him.

Al and Lindsay go first, each declaring their love for one another and other soppy stuff that has half the room in tears. And then Rose goes, deviating entirely from her planned speech to simply go on the spot – after all, it's better to be spontaneous, is it not?

She stands up with slightly wobbly feet, smiling at the entire room full of people. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are all gathered here today to celebrate the communion of Lindsay and Al. We, as their friends, can only sit here and imagine the love and trust they have between them, imagine that we ourselves can, one day, have the same feelings for another person as they evidently do for one another.

"They are the couple of the generation, the most perfect people I have ever known for one another. Never have they been involved in a scandal, never betrayed one another's trust…they're the ones for one another and if they ever lose sight of that, I haven't a clue what hope the rest of us have!" she ends on a slightly jokey note, trying to counterbalance the near crying, almost hysterical tone to her tone midway through.

Everyone applauds as she sits down before they then wait for Scorpius' speech to begin. For the first time since she set it up, she removes the sound barrier, wanting to hear what the sex obsessed womaniser can possibly have to say about his two best friends getting married.

She peeks up at him to find him staring down at her from above, his eyes open and betraying the _pain_ in there? Is that pain that she can see, pain in regards to the words she quite blatantly was aiming at him? Or is she simply imagining it, her desire for him (if it can be called that) clouding her judgement?

"You have just been wowed by one of the best spontaneous speeches that I have ever heard," Scorpius begins, his voice deep and warm. "You see, I read through Rose's speech three weeks ago - and let me tell you there was almost nothing of it in there. So why don't I do the same?

"We are here today to celebrate the marriage of two of my best friends, Lindsay and Al. it's a momentous day because no longer am I the singleton with Al, but just me by myself. I've almost lost my singlehood brother, which sort of never was since it was obvious about him and Lindsay since about three minutes into first year. But, anyway, there's a connection between them that I _think_ I may have been able to replicate with someone…but only if they're willing to accept a changed me. Thank you ladies and gentlemen and join me in applauding the new Mr and Mrs Potter."

His hands ring together in the silence of the room, the entire room gobsmacked at the underlying message in his speech, since he didn't look up from Rose's face once during it. Finally, however, the room begins to applaud the speech, the loudest applause coming from Lindsay and Albus.

"Everyone, please make your way to the dancefloor," someone directs, the sudden lighting up of the sparkling floor captivating everyone's attention. Everyone besides Scorpius and Rose, both of whom continue to stare at one another, trying to read the mind of the other but failing miserably – part of the problem of being so different, she supposes.

"Come with me," he breaks the silence and connection by reaching down to take her hand and pulling her to her feet without waiting for an answer.

They walk together down various hallways, each step making the music volume drop until finally it's non existent. She doesn't care about being with him now, not after the speech that _maybe_ made her realise that it's not an unrequited situation.

"Rose, you need to know that what you saw earlier was possibly the biggest mistake of my life," he says gravely, holding her shoulders so she continues to look into his eyes. "I didn't know what was going on with us – I knew there was _something_, I just wasn't entirely sure – and I just acted without thinking. You don't know how much I regret it."

She doesn't know what to say, doesn't know how to carry this on, how to explain in words how betrayed she felt when she found him with Ana – she thought they had something, yet to find him and her friend…it's indescribable.

"Did you mean what you said in your speech?" she asks him, her eyes flickering between his lips and his eyes, wondering if she dares risk breaking her heart here or not.

"Every word," he informs her, his tone ringing with sincerity. "I swear to you, Rose, I meant every word."

"Good…then it means I don't feel guilty for doing this," she whispers, deciding to take the plunge as she reaches up to pull his head down to her level. Her lips press onto his and it's just so magical, the tension between them entirely positive for the first time, sparks flying being the only way to describe the energy present.

She loses track of time, just focuses on the shape of Scorpius' lips, forces down any qualms about this because, well, she's doing it and debating about it internally isn't going to turn back time to before she experienced the brilliance of Scorpius Malfoy's kissing.

Finally, she breaks away from him, breathing heavily, and it seems all too similar to the situation with Ana not even six hours ago, yet entirely different at the same time. She can't help but think how maybe they could have had this before if she hadn't been so adamant that she despised him – but it's no time for what ifs.

"I think I may love you, Rose Weasley," he breathes into her face, his eyes focused entirely on hers.

"I think the sentiment is mutual, Scorpius," is her response, her fingers entwining themselves within his as she speaks. "But know this: break my heart and you'll have more than my sharp tongue to deal with," she threatens him, already beginning to have doubts as to whether or not she can make a womaniser be entirely monogamous already.

"I wouldn't doubt it," he shudders and she can't help but laughing as his other arm wraps around her waist as they begin to walk back to the reception. "Apparently everyone has been laying bets on this turn of events since school," he comments conversationally just before they get back.

"Oh I know," Rose says, her tone almost grim. "I wonder who'll have won the bucket load of galleons for guessing right when we got together," she continues.

"We're about to find out," he smiles as he lays a small kiss on the tip of her nose, reaching out at the same time to push the doors open…a metaphorical opening to the beginning of their relationship, to the beginning of their lives together.

In all honesty, she can't wait.

* * *

_Well, that's my first __**proper**__ RoseScorpius OS, and the first RxS one since like May._

_Don't fav/read without reviewing please and thank you._

_Vicky xx_


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